ISLAMABAD, June 1: The Pakistan Telecommunications Company Ltd (PTCL) plans to retrench over 22,000 employees within a year of the utility’s privatisation, Dawn has learnt. If implemented, it will be one of the biggest lay-offs in the country’s corporate history.

PTCL officials have already initiated efforts to win the support of the Pakistan Telecommunication Lion’s Unity (PTLU), the utility’s employees’ union. The PTLU organised countrywide strikes prior to the June 18, 2005, sale of PTCL to the UAE-based telecom giant, Etisalat.

PTCL has also hired consultants to devise an effective strategy for implementing the retrenchment plan.

The company currently employs a total of 61,000 permanent and contractual workers, of which 51,328 are regular staff members. The PTLU believes that the number of employees whose services are likely to be terminated stands at 33,000.

According to an internal circular issued by the PTCL, a copy of which is available with Dawn, the management has categorised 11,000 employees as “redundant” -- i.e., whose skills are no longer needed since they operate “outdated” technology. Such workers constitute 21 per cent of the company’s overall strength. Where the company still needs some of the skill sets concerned, it intends to outsource.

Other employees have been declared “Surplus, Not Needed” on the grounds of poor performance or overstaffing. There are 11,118 workers in this category, constituting 22 per cent of PTCL’s overall strength.

According to the circular, the redundant employees had to be identified before May 23 but officials were directed to keep the matter confidential since it could cause “embarrassment” to PTCL employees.

The circular has been sent to all PTCL senior executive vice presidents, executive vice presidents, general managers and chief executives, as well as to the president and CEO of the Etisalat Advisory Team.

PTLU central deputy secretary general, Azad Qadri, told Dawn that “These are forced terminations and have nothing to do with the proposed Voluntary Separation Scheme (VSS). He complained that General Musharraf had promised job security under the revised Telecom Ordinance 2005 but PTCL employees had never had faith in the government or management’s promises. However, he said, the union would make every effort to have to decision reversed and convince the PTCL management to invest in employees’ skills rather than firing them.